SAFETY PROFILE OF THE USE OF AN ANTICOAGULANT IN GERIATRIC PATIENTS OLDER THAN 65 YEARS

Abstract

Sodium Heparin 5000UI/mL, is an anticoagulant medication for the exclusive use of hospitals that is widely used in the world. The World Health Organization includes it in a list of essential drugs, stating that a year it helps to save more 100 million life. In Cuba, the AICA⁺ Laboratory Company is the owner of this medicine, so it is of interest to know the safety profile of the use of this anticoagulant in geriatric patients over 65 years of age, this being the objective of this work. An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study of case series was carried out. Through spontaneous notifications, from 2018 to 2022. The universe included 13 patients over 65 years of age. The type of event, affected organ systems, patient sex, pathological history, route, dose of administration, reason for medical prescription, time sequence, personnel reporting, level of care where they appeared, region of the country where they manifested, were analyzed. They were classified in severity, causality and frequency. 32.5% adverse events were reported in patients with bleeding as the main event, skin as the most affected organ system, males predominating, carriers of ischemic heart disease, arterial hypertension, and chronic kidney disease. The most widely used route of administration is intravenous in cyclical or daily doses of 5,000 IU to 30,000 IU, given for unstable angina, thromboembolic disease, anticoagulant, hemodialysis, bleeding, and myocardial infarction, with symptoms in the first 24 hours of treatment, mostly reported by physicians since the secondary level of health. Santiago de Cuba reported the highest number of cases. Most of the adverse events were classified as moderate, possible and frequent, only one patient showed a serious adverse effect with a favorable outcome for life. As a conclusion, we can state that sodium Heparin 5000UI/mL, at the time under study, turned out to be a safe product for geriatric patients over 65 years of age